More Upsets in Match Play Golf

DOUG FERGUSON

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, February 21, 2002

AP Golf Writer

And then there was one.

PGA champion David Toms birdied the 18th hole to beat good friend Steve Flesch and become the only top-10 seed still around in the Match Play Championship, where the stars are gone but the Stars & Stripes are doing just fine.

Paul Azinger made a gutsy comeback against Niclas Fasth of Sweden with birdies on four of the last five holes. He won in 20 holes, giving the United States seven players in the quarterfinals of the World Golf Championships event.

"It's probably going to kill the ratings in Europe, but it's good here," Azinger said.

The only non-American still around was a Spaniard, just not the one everyone expected.

Sergio Garcia, the No. 5 seed, fell behind on the first hole against Scott McCarron and never caught up in a match that was high on gamesmanship but lacked quality shots down the stretch.

They halved the final four holes _ known as "The Longest Mile" in golf _ with two bogeys and two pars, McCarron winning 1-up.

Carrying the flag for the rest of the world is Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, who pulled away from Mark Calcavecchia with birdies on two of the final four holes for a 2-up victory.

In other matches:

_ Bob Estes, 3-up with eight holes to play, matched Nick Price shot-for-shot over the final three holes and held on for a 1-up victory.

_ Tom Lehman birdied three straight holes to stay close with Matt Gogel, then took advantage of his mistakes for a 4 and 3 victory.

_ Brad Faxon is the hottest player in the quarterfinals. He made five birdies for a 3 and 2 victory over John Cook, and is the only player who has yet to play the 18th hole this week.

_ Kevin Sutherland is the highest seed still alive at No. 62, having dispatched of Jim Furry with a mistake-free day at La Costa.

It was the third time in four years of the Accenture Match Play Championship that only one top-10 seed was remaining after the first three rounds.

"The guys who are left are playing the best in the world now," McCarron said. "These are your marquee players. I don't care who they are."

McCarron got some advice from Azinger to ignore the countless waggles of Garcia, which were about eight in the early going and up to 32 by the end of the round.

Garcia hit a wedge into a few inches for a birdie to close the deficit to 1-up on No. 13, and that's where the fun began.

McCarron hit into the left bunker on No. 14 and blasted out to 30 feet, slamming his club back into the sand in disgust. But he holed the long par putt to keep his margin, a turning point in the match.

"It looked like I would win two holes in a row," Garcia said. "That was a great putt. That changed the momentum."

The tension was obvious. McCarron's drive on the 15th appeared perfect until it rolled into a bunker. He bent over and touched his head to his knees, then punched his bag with his fist. Garcia was behind a tree _ "I've been here before," he cracked to the gallery _ and both wound up in a greenside bunker, unable to make par.

Both had short par putts on the 16th _ McCarron missed his from 6 feet and shouted, "Nice greens," to one in particular. With a chance to square the match, Garcia missed his 4-foot putt to the left.

"I hooked it," he said, shaking his head in disbelief at the poa annua greens that have not been friendly to anyone this week.

Garcia also missed putts of 12 and 25 feet on the final two holes, and McCarron matched him to advance to the quarterfinals against Lehman.

McCarron generally is a quick player, but slowed down so much that both players were put on the clock. Three bad times results in a loss of a hole, only it never got that far. Plus, Garcia twice had McCarron make par putts under 18 inches.

Azinger figured he would be checking out of La Costa, especially when he was 2-down with four holes to play. He never led until the 20th hole.

"All the time, I was thinking I was beat," he said. "I was not giving up, but I didn't see him making any mistakes, and I couldn't get my wedges close."

Fasth bogeyed the 15th, Azinger birdied the 16th to tie the match, then stayed in the game by holing a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 17 after Fasth hit his approach to 5 feet for birdie. Both made birides on the first extra hole, and Azinger closed him out with a two-putt birdie on the second hole, while Fasth failed to get up-and-down from a bunker.

"The guys who are still here are here for a reason," Azinger said. "I could have easily been beaten today by Niclas Fasth. I could have run into the wrong guy. But today, he ran into the wrong guy."